As Images of Disaster Spread, How Will Philippine Tourism Fare?

Homeless residents rest inside a school featuring a portrait of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III in Tacloban on Nov. 13. As images of the devastation spread, so do fears that the country’s tourism industry could take a hit. See more images.

Major resort hotspots in the Philippines have largely escaped the brunt of devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan, which barrelled across the central part of the country Friday. However, some hotel operators and government officials are worried that damaged infrastructure in many parts of the country could drive tourists elsewhere with the peak travel season just weeks away.

The graphic images of destruction and death being shown around the world come mostly from Samar and Leyte provinces, where Haiyan first made landfall and levelled nearly everything in its wake.

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The images are likely to shake travelers faith in the Philippines as a safe destination for visitors, said Karina Rosa Tiopes, regional director for the Eastern Visayas, at the Philippine Department of Tourism.

And while those areas do draw some tourists, many of the nation’s top resort destinations are further southwest of the destruction, in Cebu and Bohol. Those provinces escaped much of the force of Haiyan and many businesses and hotels have suffered little damage.

A bigger problem they face is supply shortages and rolling blackouts. In Bohol, home to tropical islets and the Chocolate Hills – giant limestone mounds that turn brown during the summer months—authorities are figuring out how to keep businesses running with limited power supply.

“Power outages are affecting the whole island,” said Alfonso Damalerio II, provincial administrator of Bohol. The north part of the province did not avoid storm damage, he said, and power stations there have been destroyed by the typhoon.

To keep operations up and running, many hotels are running on gasoline generators, but now fuel supplies are also running low.

“Daily living in Bohol is getting more difficult because supplies of gasoline, water and meat products…are short,” said Cornelis de Wijn, the general manager at Anda White Beach Resort in Bohol.

“For sure there will be more guest cancellations for Christmas and New Year’s. It will (cause) a big impact on all the resort owners, because it’s our main season,” he said, noting that the hotel had already received some cancellations before the storm hit.

Millions of tourists flock to the Philippines each year to enjoy its sunshine and white-sand beaches. The government also increasingly depends on tourism to support economic growth – 5.9% of the Philippines gross domestic product in 2011 came from the sector.

On Bantayan island in the north of Cebu, which was close to the path of the typhoon, several resorts have suffered extensive damage.

“Only the concrete rooms were left undamaged but the [thatch] huts were washed out,” said Bibi Desquitabo of the Kota Beach Resort in Bantayan.

Resort guests were evacuated before the storm hit, she said, and operations would remain closed until the water and electricity are restored and necessary fixed made – a process that she estimated would not take more than a few weeks.

The Shangri-La hotel group, which operates one of the biggest resorts on the famed island of Boracay, to the west of Cebu, said its phone, Internet and television transmissions at that resort are slowly resuming.

El Nido Resorts, further west of Cebu on the island of Palawan, said its four properties there were undamaged and it hasn’t recorded any cancellations. Local tourists may delay their travel plans noted, Bami Samson, El Nido’s sales director, but international bookings remain stable.

Meanwhile, airlines say they are focusing on flying out stranded passengers and expect flights to Tacloban, among the worst affected areas, to remain suspended for some time. Cebu Pacific Air the biggest budget carrier in the Philippines, said it had cancelled more than 180 round-trip flights from last Thursday but expects normal operations to start again soon.

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